A court has been urged not to jail a woman who burnt her husband to death in what her lawyer has called a momentary lapse of control.

Rajini Narayan was found guilty of manslaughter for dousing her husband, Satish, in petrol and lighting it with a candle at their home at Unley in Adelaide two years ago.

Defence lawyer Lindy Powell said the woman should be sentenced on the basis that she had planned to burn his penis as a minor circumcision after learning he had been having an affair.

Ms Powell said Narayan did not mean to kill the man but made a split-second mistake after he had insulted her.

"She had indeed what might be called a loveless marriage, a marriage devoid of love and affection," she said.

"It goes without saying that Mrs Narayan was devoted to her husband and family. She is deeply remorseful.
"The nature of this particular case is such that one might think or ask 'What is actually to be served by imprisoning Mrs Narayan?'
"If the fundamental purpose of punishment is protecting society then Mrs Narayan doesn't present any risk whatsoever."
Two of their three children gave evidence for the defence about years of physical abuse family members had suffered at the hands of Mr Narayan.
Daniel, 21, said the household had had a hostile atmosphere.

He told of intervening on one occasion during family violence.

"At that time my father was punching my mother and so I made him stop," he told the court.
Daughter Jessica, 23, said her mother had rejected her pleas to leave her father because of the violence.
"It was so hard living in such a hostile environment I ended up leaving home, she said.
"It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. It was very easy to live with because my life was much better leaving the house."
The prosecution is yet to make submissions on penalty but Mr Narayan's family has called for the maximum sentence.

A young woman who had ambitions of becoming a glamour model falsely accused a man of raping her as part of a ‘wicked’ scam to clear her £3,000 drug debt.

Samantha Merry, 21, claimed that she had been sexually assaulted by the man in a brutal attack which allegedly happened in front of a group of people.

Her victim was arrested in front of his partner and their children at 4am and driven to a police station where intimate swabs were taken and he was held in a cell for 23 hours.

He remained on bail for 15 weeks with the threat of a lengthy jail term hanging over him while officers investigated the allegations.

Merry, of Great Baddow, near Chelmsford, Essex, is believed to have made up the allegation after her drug dealer offered to cancel the debt if she took action against the man because he had a grudge against him.

It was only after CCTV footage came to light that proved the man could not have attacked Merry that he was cleared, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

Merry, an office junior, admitted perverting the course of justice and was jailed for 18 months yesterday.

‘As a result, your victim’s life became the stuff of which nightmares are made. He remained under suspicion and on bail, expecting prosecution and fearing imprisonment for this crime.’

Judge Goldstaub told her that her lies could stop genuine rape victims coming forward for fear they would not be believed.
The court heard that Merry claimed she was attacked on March 3 this year.

She made a detailed 13-page statement, leading to a case that cost Essex Police thousands of pounds, including 235 man hours and £3,700 on forensic tests.

CCTV footage later revealed that she had lied and on June 14 she was arrested.

Richard Stevens, prosecuting, said: ‘She said she had a drugs debt of £3,000 involving crack cocaine. The dealer had told her to accuse the victim of rape and it was her hope that doing so might wipe her debt.’

Paul Donnegan, defending, said his client had no previous criminal record and had suffered abuse in the street since she admitted to lying.

But the judge turned down pleas to spare her prison, saying it was a ‘careful and wicked deception’.

He added: ‘Some might say if you try to send someone to prison for five or six years you really deserve to go to prison yourself. The effect on the victim is appalling. It was premeditated and mercenary.’

Merry uses the nickname Sexy Sam on her Myspace page on which she writes: ‘Before I met my boyfriend I wanted to get in to some kind of modeling [sic]’.

She adds that her ambition is to meet Katie Price.

After the case, Chief Inspector Joe Wrigley said: ‘Justice has been done and I hope it serves as a warning to anyone who would want to make a false allegation.’

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Article here. Excerpt:
'It was a spiel I was used to. When men die on the job, they are not men. They are “workers,” “firefighters,” “soldiers,” and other professional labels designed to distract us from the idea that they are human beings. Sometimes, they are even reduced to something as generic as “personnel.”
Anything but men.
And of course I listened to this with the certainty that if by any chance any of those “workers” happened to be female, I would have heard the now ubiquitous woman inclusion. The tour guide would have to work from an amended script, telling us that 16 “workers” died, including one woman.
...
But what got to me, what made my skin crawl and turn a bit crimson, I am sure, was on the wall behind me; a backlit testimonial standing above the row of exciters in the machine hall.
{image}
It’s worth reading and thinking about. There I was, standing above the plant’s machine hall, housed in a space carved out of a million metric tons of solid rock, listening to a female plant employee tell me about the “workers” that died building her place of employment, with a glowing sign on the wall behind me that cast the men who did it all like a bunch of drunks and derelicts.'

Thursday, November 4, 2010

A Christchurch father fears he will always be remembered as "the dude that hit his boy",
despite having his assault conviction quashed. ... Read More

dad4justice's message:The stigma of a deadbeat violent dad is impossible to remove. It does not matter whether you did harm to the children or not. Try getting a job after being fucked over by false allegtions made to a gender bias judiciaryTell that to the public YOUR HONOUR!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Crown has conceded there was a miscarriage of justice in the trial of a Christchurch musician who was convicted of assaulting his four-year-old son. James Louis Mason was found guilty at a Christchurch ... More

The crown is really good at dealing decent fathers the miscarriage of justice card.Mr Mason is lucky, many family men have to live with the terrible consequences when the gender bias judiciary crucify an innocent dad. The anti smacking law is a total let for New Zealand families, but our wimpish prime minister John Key couldn't give a hoot. How many more children and fathers is this insane law going to ruin? Lots I think. No wonder kiwis' are flying across the ditch. For the sake of your children join the kiwi migration. This country is a sick place for parents and children!